


hiding down below

by hollow_city



Series: shadows of the past (can be felt by the present) [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Batman (Comics)
Genre: Airbending & Airbenders, Alternate Universe, Bending (Avatar), Brotherly Bonding, Firebending & Firebenders, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 21:39:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13690341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollow_city/pseuds/hollow_city
Summary: damian knows about the avatar. everybody does. everybody's heard the story of the legendary hero who was able to master all four elements and bring peace to the world in even the darkest of times.or, damian has a problem. a big one.





	hiding down below

**Author's Note:**

> whoops my hand slipped and i accidentally wrote this.  
> this was actually based on the following prompt: "the avatar is still being reborn to this day. unfortunately, if the government finds the avatar, they're killed before they liberate society. the handful of benders left are few and far between. and you, an introverted earthbender, just froze the liquid in your cup of tea."  
> that being said, you need not have any knowledge of the last airbender or korra to understand this, and obviously, i've deviated from the prompt in which damian is a firebender first, rather than an earthbender.

-

Damian knows about the Avatar. Everybody does. Everybody's heard the story of the legendary hero who was able to master all four elements and bring peace to the world in even the darkest of times. It's a story grandparents tell children and older siblings pass to their younger siblings.

He would know because Grayson passed it down to him. His grandfather wasn't one for stories of heroes, especially not ones undoubtedly stronger than him, so there was no way he was going to hear the story from him. 

Grayson told Todd and Drake before him, and he spoke of a powerful being with glowing eyes and a will so powerful that not even the bleakest corners of the world could break them. A power that transcends time, being reborn into someone new every time the previous dies. 

"Don't talk like that, not here," Father says when Damian asks for the story about the first Avatar in the middle of a gala, his eyes hard and his mouth tight. Damian doesn't understand why his father looks so angry, but he understands when they return to the manor for the night.

He tells Damian that he has no problem with benders at all, but he also tells him that the world doesn't treat them like humans. Outing a bender can be a fate worse than death. 

Damian almost cries. He never allows himself to cry, and he is not ashamed of his abilities, but he is still a firebender, and the world is not a place made for him. Not anymore. The government will hunt him down and take him away, probably kill him, and Damian is good. He is very good. But he is nothing against the  _entire_ United States government. He could try to escape, he could return to the League, he could go back to his mother where they accept him, where benders are not prosecuted but encouraged.

Damian hyperventilates. 

A hand comes down on his shoulder, squeezing tight as it spins him around. With the turn, Damian throws out his hand, tendrils of orange flames trailing from his fingertips. 

His eyes widen when he hears a gasp and he immediately scrambles back, his hands clenched into fists. 

"Gr- R-Richard, I'm," Damian gasps at the sight of his brother on the ground with his arms out in front of his face. He looks entirely unscathed but very shocked, and Damian wants to cry all over again.

He just tried to burn his brother. The best person in his life, whether Damian will admit that or not, and he just tried to burn him. None of them were ever supposed to know about his bending, because Mother never told Father, and Damian was very much content with keeping it to himself. He had been so careful, so cautious. It was for himself and himself alone.

"I'm sorry," he stammers out, tightening his jaw and staring straight ahead to contain his emotions. It doesn't stop his voice from cracking. He backs away as quickly as he can, barely missing the edge of the carpet with the heel of his foot. 

He wants to run for the door, but then Grayson is floating to his feet and reaching for him.

"Damian, it's okay," he says, a tiny, reassuring smile pulling at this lips. "I'm fine, everything's fine."

Damian doesn't move an inch. His mouth is open slightly, his eyes wide and glassy.

Grayson is an  _airbender._ The rarest benders of them all. And suddenly everything makes sense.

"You... you're an airbender," Damian says, dumbfounded. How had he not known? How had he not figured it out before?

Grayson smiles. "Sure am. And you're a firebender, and that's okay."

Damian can't help the sneer that curls his lips. "It is not okay. Firebenders are savages, hot-tempered and selfish. The world hates every single one of them."

The look on his brother's face makes something burn and squeeze in his chest. 

"Dami, no, that's not true at all," he says, eyes full of sorrow. "I know what they say about benders, about the Avatar, but none of it is true."

The firebender frowns. "Grayson, don't be a fool."

Grayson steps forward, resting his hand on Damian's shoulder. The younger boy almost dips away from the touch but refrains at the last second. 

"Come on, let's talk about this in the kitchen. Alfie left some tea out for us," he says, and Damian knows he's just trying to distract him.

He lets him. 

"Does Bruce know?" the airbender asks as he hands Damian his cup of tea.

The boy shakes his head, hiding behind his cup as he takes a sip. It's gone slightly cold and with a wry twist of his lips and dull eyes, Damian heats it himself. He shakes his head again and gulps down a burning mouthful. 

"Are you gonna tell him? I think he'd probably like to know," Grayson continues, leaning his elbows on the table as he grips his mug with both hands. 

Damian's gaze drops to the table as he puts his cup down.

"No," he says flatly. "I will not tell Father."

"Why, though?"

He scoffs. "Do not be ridiculous. I am a  _firebender_ , Grayson. Surely you know what that means."

Grayson frowns, his fingers tightening. He doesn't say anything for a few moments, his head tilting as he studies Damian. The younger boy pretends not to notice.

"What are you talking about?" he finally asks. "Do you think he'll... kick you out if he finds out you're a firebender?" 

Damian raises an eyebrow and casts Grayson a flat look. He holds up his hand and summons a tiny flame that dances in his palm.

"This is dangerous. I am dangerous," he states, curling his fingers in after a moment and snuffing the flame. "Of course he will. He will send me back to my mother if he finds out."

He can't stand to look into the too-blue, too-caring, too-sincere eyes of his brother any longer, so he turns to stare down into his steaming tea. He doesn't want to drink it anymore. 

"Damian, there is absolutely no way he'll send you away. I'm an airbender, and he hasn't gotten rid of me yet," Grayson says. At the look Damian gives him, he waves his hand dismissively. "I mean, I'm still here  _now_ , aren't I? Besides, it's not even like we're the only ones."

And now Damian is intrigued.

"We aren't?" he asks, trying to keep the interest out of his voice, but most likely failing. 

Grayson huffs out a quiet laugh. "Tim's an earthbender, but he mostly just metalbends. Cass is a waterbender. She's got bloodbending down to a fine art, but she really doesn't like to use it."

Damian's heard about bloodbending. He thinks he understands why Cain doesn't enjoy engaging it. But what he doesn't understand - 

"Father... allows them to stay?"

His brother smiles. "Of course he does. Did you really think he would care? He loves you, Dami, you have nothing to worry about."

But he does, because when he looks down, his entire body chills. 

His tea is frozen. A solid, brown block of ice. It was boiling not two minutes ago.

"Damian? You okay?"

Damian doesn't say anything. He uncurls his fingers from around his cup and watches in dismay as the tea melts into a liquid once more. He does this several more times, his heart beating faster and faster as the tea freezes and melts, freezes and melts. Cracks and steams, cracks and steams. 

He should not be able to do this. He's a firebender. Only a firebender. He should  _not_ be able to do this. 

"Dami?" Grayson's voice sounds genuinely concerned, and Damian wants to run. He wants to run as far as he possibly can and leave this godforsaken tea behind, until he can't see the manor anymore. 

If Grayson didn't hate him before, he surely would now, because there is no other plausible explanation for this.

He knows what he is. The only person to ever master more than one element. The person the government hunts and destroys every time they are reincarnated and build the courage to resurface.

The most dangerous person in the world, in the eyes of the public.

Damian is the Avatar. 

-


End file.
